Count MacLeod
by Agent R
Summary: While awaiting to meet Amanda in Germany, Amber and Richie (with no thanks to Joe) find out that Duncan's family tree contains vampires, and begin to wonder about him. Hope you enjoy, please read and review.
1. Default Chapter

Count MacLeod  
  
"Mac, what the hell are you doing?" Joe walked in.  
  
"What? No 'Hello Mac, what the hell are you doing'?" Duncan asked, appearing to be full of sarcasm.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Joe sat down.  
  
"I'm packing my suitcase, why? You weren't done looking through it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"You and your sense of humor, one of these days, they're both going to die, or at least wish so," Joe said, "MacLeod, it's the middle of a pouring down thunder storm, don't tell me you plan on leaving in weather like this."  
  
"I do, and I will," Duncan replied, "I have a plane to catch, and so do you."  
  
"Me?" Joe asked.  
  
"That's right, Richie, Methos and Amber are coming along too," Duncan reminded him.  
  
"Amber's coming?" Joe asked.  
  
"That's right," Amber walked in, "I flunked in 10th grade the first time and don't intend to try it again and fail again, so I'm going."  
  
"Where we going? You didn't bother to tell me," Joe said.  
  
"Amanda called, she said she wanted to how you say, patch things up, but...she won't do it here, she told me to meet her in Germany, and she said for some reason, to bring all of you with me," he said.  
  
"Huh.....Wonder why," Joe exhaled.  
  
"I don't know, but if Mac takes all day packing, we're gonna miss the flight," Amber said.  
  
"Excuse me, missy," Duncan confronted her, "what about your packing?"  
  
Richie, standing in the doorway, knew that tone, it was a warning, if she got smart with him, it wouldn't be good....  
  
"I already finished my packing, and Richie's to boot," she replied.  
  
Duncan sighed, it was impossible for him to outdo her, Richie had to laugh, all the years he'd tried to trip up Mac, and nothing, but her, this stuff just seemed to flow right off top of her head.  
  
"Well, I'm almost done, in any case, the airplane will probably be late getting here because of the rain," Duncan said.  
  
"Which reminds me, how long is a flight from Detroit to Germany supposed to be?" Richie asked.  
  
"I'm guessing about 15 hours," Duncan said.  
  
"15 hours?" Amber asked, "great, by the time we get off, the first thing I'm going to do is look up a good mortician, and see if he has anything planned for the weekend," Amber said.  
  
"Why a mortician?" Richie asked.  
  
"Why not? Should anything.....happen, he knows how to arrange it like an accident," Amber said.  
  
"Amber, that's a coroner," Duncan told her.  
  
"Coroner, mortician, tomato, tomoto, whatever you call it, I'm not waiting around to find out, let's go," Amber said.  
  
"Allright, but be nice, don't bite the cab driver like last time," Duncan reminded her.  
  
"Hey, he bit me first," Amber said.  
  
Well, Duncan didn't argue with her too long, they headed down to the airport, with just enough time to catch the next plane heading to Germany.  
  
As they were boarding, Richie and Amber found a couple of seats on the right side of the plane.  
  
"So, how do you do with air sickness?" Richie asked.  
  
"What sickness? It stays in my stomach, then when we hit ground, it disappears, like that," Amber snapped her fingers, "you?"  
  
"I don't know, I'm usually asleep, and when I wake up, I have the most horrible migraine," Richie said.  
  
"I know, just like that time you were spiting Mac at the hotel, when we were talking, I had this headache, but I just thought it was sinus. By 5 o' clock, I wanted you to kill the lights and I felt like throwing up...Figures, me, I can watch 500 pound men get slaughtered like pigs, I can stand a sonic boom at a near distance, but out of nowhere, I can get a bad stomach and head," Amber said.  
  
"In that case, you DON'T want to try any of the food up here," Richie replied.  
  
"Don't worry, I can go quite the while without food when necessary," Amber told him, "so, why do you think Amanda's having Mac meet her in Germany?"  
  
"Who knows? Maybe she's taking up a new language to cuss Mac out in," Richie said.  
  
Well, the flight was less than pleasurable, the whole flight was bumpy, a storm had come up around noon, and the echoing gossip of all the other passengers didn't help.  
  
Amber looked beyond nervous, she had turned pale, and her eyes seemed to stick out like a zombie's, as she looked around, she noticed Richie coming back.  
  
"You ever see Zero Hour?" she asked.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"Zero Hour, the movie that Airplane! spoofed," Amber replied.  
  
"Can't say I did," Richie said.  
  
"These people go on a flight, and one of the passengers...a father...is a man from the war, he was a fighter pilot and developed a phobia of ending up in the cockpit again. Everyone gets food poisoning, including the pilots, he has less than 2 hours, to get the plane through a thunderstorm and landed, or else everyone, including his family dies," Amber replied.  
  
"Hope they don't show that on the in-flight movie," Richie said, "otherwise this whole plane's going to mass hysteria."  
  
"At least with Airplane!, you get a laugh out of it, at one part, where Ted Striker's showing the Africans to play basketball, one of the natives choice uses his middle finger to keep the ball spinning...I'd take his drinking problem anyday...I don't drink coffee, I hate wine...His stories about his past love life with Elaine drive everyone to kill themselves, an old lady hangs herself, a foreign soldier shoves a sword through his stomach, another passenger douses himself with gasoline and lights a match....Robert Stack was more than fit for a comic role...Then that, crazy, horny captain, it's uh.....well he...he was that news reporter from The Addams Family Values, the reporter of the black widows...had these crazy fettishes it seemed."  
  
"You're doing this to stall for time until we land," Richie realized.  
  
"Maybe I am, so what?" Amber asked.  
  
"Nothing, I like it, you're good company, a lot better than some people...whenever I went on a flight with a beautiful woman, she got uncomfortable and spent the rest of the flight in the bathroom throwing water on her face and taking aspirin. At least you stay up front," Richie said.  
  
"That's not my fault, I don't want to go to the wrong place at the wrong time...I heard of this lady, who lived in a small town where they always got tornados, during a heavy storm, she went to the bathroom, and when she came back, the walls and roof of her house had blown away," Amber replied.  
  
"Sheesh, no wonder whenever you go to wrestling, you always sit up front," Richie said.  
  
"Yeah, if a bloody fight breaks out, I wanna be a part of it, but I don't want to be part of a house getting blown away, during a tornado," Amber replied.  
  
Over on the left side of the plane, Methos and his never failing ear for gossip was picking up their conversation.  
  
"Well, it sounds like those two are breaking the ice," he said.  
  
"That's good, Amber's okay on the ground, but I hear when she gets in the air, you better know how to strike up a converstaion. She worries when the whole flight gets quiet, and Richie...I don't ever recall him managing to stay awake during a full flight, so I don't know how he's going to turn out," Duncan replied.  
  
"So, you ever been to Germany?" Richie asked.  
  
"You nuts? I've been all across the States, I've been to Russia, England, South America, and Norway, but I've never been to Germany," Amber replied, "you?"  
  
"Never," Richie said.  
  
"I always wanted to see what it was like, considering, that's where Dracula was supposed to have lived," Amber said.  
  
"You really believe that croc?" Richie asked.  
  
"And how, that 'croc' was based on a real prince in Bram Stoker's time," Amber said.  
  
"Really?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Never knew it."  
  
"From what I heard, he wasn't nice, hardly ever seen in the day, terribly pale...and since that book was written, look where the superstition of the undead has gone," Amber said.  
  
"I know, the movies have gone from Nosferatu to Interview with a Vampire," Richie replied.  
  
"You saw that movie too?" Amber asked.  
  
"5 times, you?" Richie asked.  
  
"18, I never can get over how corny it is at the end, when Lestat throws the interviewer into the passenger side of the car, bites him, takes the wheel, rips the cuffs out of his jacket, and starts singing. You'd almost think he'd done it before or something," Amber returned.  
  
"But seriously, you really think vampires exist?" Richie asked.  
  
"They say the 4 most common horrific but true sights are ghosts, aliens, zombies and vampires, I have seen just about everything possible. I haven't seen a vampire yet, but that doesn't mean I won't, and it's not just those who aren't seen in the daytime are accused. There's all these things on the net, chat rooms, message boards, people claiming to be vampire, some women who talk to them, disappear and are never found, others....they end up dead, I'm not sure whether or not vampires exist, but I dont' doubt it," Amber said.  
  
While Amber and Richie were talking, Joe was eavesdropping, and got a look in his eyes like he did when he got an idea.  
  
After what seemed like forever, the plane came to a land, in foggy Germany.  
  
"Wonderful, you have to walk on all fours to see through the fog," Amber said.  
  
"Wonderful place to get lost, not exactly the best place to stick your neck out either," Richie said.  
  
Amber stumbled around through the fog on all fours, feeling for anything out of the ordinary, she found herself stumbled upon a steel toed boot.  
  
"Amber, what're you doing?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Making sure someone doesn't lead me off a cliff, in this weather, that's very easy," Amber said.  
  
"Come on."  
  
Duncan bent down and picked Amber up.  
  
"Hey! Hey! Where we going?" she asked.  
  
"You'll see," Duncan grinned.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"This is the place you had in mind, MacLeod?" Amber asked.  
  
The house didn't seem too pleasant, it was even worse on the inside, it was old, filled with cobwebs, no lights, looked like Duncan was there about 100 years ago.  
  
"Let me guess.....home away from home," Amber said.  
  
"Well, I know it doesn't look too good now, but it should do," Duncan said.  
  
"When was the last time you stayed here?" Methos asked, "About 1900?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And it still hasn't been dusted," Methos realized.  
  
"Richie, where are you?" Amber asked.  
  
"Down here."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Next to your foot."  
  
"What're you doing?" Amber asked.  
  
"Working on a fire to get some light in this place, although, as old as the house is, I hope the fireplace doesn't cave in," Richie replied.  
  
"I agree with Methos......boy there's something you don't hear everyday.....this place could use a good dusting, not to mention, a bulldozer," Amber said.  
  
Amber felt along the walls for any hooked in candelabras, seeing how the house didn't have any real light to it, at that point, the fire kicked in and Amber got a real surprise when she got a look at a portrait on the wall.  
  
"Hey Duncan! What's the matter here? Did you forget to jump in the lake that day?" Amber asked.  
  
Duncan came up to look at the portrait, it was indeed an odd looking fellow, with his distinct facial bones and his quite recognizable nose and eyebrows, dressed like he got out of the French Revolution.  
  
"Ah, I see you've dug up one of my old relatives," Duncan said.  
  
"Say what? Mac, you told me you were dropped off in the Clan MacLeod, this guy looks just like you," Richie said.  
  
"Yes, I know, that's the one thing we never could figure out about old Brom, anyway, he lived outside of the states at the time, he went into a career of being a doctor, when he received his diploma in 1776," Duncan said.  
  
Amber couldn't help but notice at that time, Duncan's tone had gone down but his voice up.  
  
"Mac, this is a long shot, but have you been inhaling that swamp gas?" Amber asked.  
  
"Anyway, short while after that, he fled to Germany and stayed here for some time," Duncan said, "however, Brom, he was never too big for hygeine."  
  
"I can see that, his hair's all mussed up like a husky's during high humidity...after jumping into the water," Amber said  
  
(End of chapter 1....don't worry, this story won't be as long as Going My Way) 


	2. Count MacLeod Pt II

Count MacLeod Pt II  
  
Amber put the candelabra down on the dresser and looked around.  
  
"This room should do, although I must admit, I have seen better, but not by much," she said.  
  
"And I'm taking the room down the hall," Richie said.  
  
"Wait a minute," Amber grabbed Richie by his collar, "why're you moving in down the hall?"  
  
"Because, the last thing Mac needs to do is get ideas, he's not used to them, not even in his old age," Richie said.  
  
Richie turned around and came face to face with Mac, apparently he heard Richie.  
  
"Greetings, have you seen my poligrip?" Duncan sucked in his lips.  
  
"Mac, you know what I mean, remember how it went back in....."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I remember, I remember," Duncan said.  
  
The last thing Duncan wanted to do was go down memory lane on the time he caught Richie in the back of a mustang with a girl who was only half dressed. Later he found out she came dressed like that, and Richie was the one knocked for a loop, and knocked into the back seat.  
  
Richie headed down the hall to his room to unpack, and Duncan saw Amber looking for something in her suitcase.  
  
"What're you doing?" he asked.  
  
"This house has poor lighting MacLeod, 50 rooms, 11 fireplaces, lanterns and candles and chandeliers with a thousand wicks the rest of the way. If you're not careful, this whole house will burn down," Amber told him.  
  
Amber pulled out 3 flashlights, 2 dozen extra candles, and a zippo.  
  
"There is one advantage to this, someone comes over here trying to kill us, they can't cut off the electricity, no electricity to cut," Amber replied.  
  
"Also, someone comes over here to kill us, if he tries to stab you in the head he'll wreck his knife," Joe passed by.  
  
Amber was ready to tackle him, but she knew if she did that, he'd take out his 'insurance policy' Duncan, so she didn't do anything. A short while later, Amber explained to Duncan as much as she loved his presence, she demanded either he get out or she'd kick his rear end to the other side of the property, so he left.  
  
Amber headed over to the bed and found something stuck partially in the wall behind a board, so she yanked at it until it came out. She realized that the papers were records to Duncan's family tree.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Boy, Mac comes from SOME family," Richie said.  
  
"Yeah, look at all these names, Brian MacLeod, Alexander MacLeod, Maria MacLeod, Delilah MacLeod, Sherman MacLeod, and here's old Brom Macleod....but there's a problem with it," Amber realized.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, look, it says that Delilah died in 1706, Alexander died in 1896, Maria died in 1756, but there's no death date for Brom, and Mac said he was alive a looooooong time ago, so unless he's an Immortal, there's no way he can still be alive," Amber pointed out.  
  
"That's what you think," Joe said under his breath.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amber asked.  
  
"Don't you know?" Joe asked.  
  
"No, I don't know......know what?" Amber asked.  
  
"Look here, in addition to ol' Brom, there's a Phillip MacLeod that never died, a Norton MacLeod that never died, and a George MacLoed that never died, what's that tell you?" Joe asked.  
  
"His family's cross bred with the Japanese?" Amber asked.  
  
"No you moron!" Joe hit Amber on the head with his walker, "It means that they haven't died because they're already dead."  
  
"This is crazy," Richie said.  
  
Richie got up and headed for his room.  
  
"Well then why aren't their death dates on here?" Amber asked.  
  
"It's not that kind of death," Joe said.  
  
"What? They were cultists and burnt at the stake?" Amber asked.  
  
"No!" Joe hit her again, "It means they're already dead in a sense, but they're still alive."  
  
"Why don't you translate English into English you old man?" Amber asked.  
  
"You're familiar with the book Dracula, aren't you, kid?" Joe asked.  
  
"Are you insinuating that his ancestors are vampires?" Amber asked.  
  
"If the coffin fits," Joe said.  
  
"Joe, that's ridiculous," Amber said.  
  
"Is it?" Joe asked.  
  
"Besides, so what if they are?" Amber asked.  
  
"Well it only makes sense that Mac's one too. Look at this, every 7th relative has no death date, and you know how old Mac is," Joe pointed out.  
  
"That's different, that's cuz he's Immor......eeeewwwwwww, I get your point," Amber said.  
  
Amber suddenly remembered something from Interview with a Vampire, they referred to the vampires as 'Immortals'.  
  
"But that can't be, Mac's out in the morning when the sun's out," Amber said.  
  
"Well sure, but you have to realize, this is two different kinds of Immortal put together we're talking about here......you can't be sure that it doesn't have something to do with him surviving in sunlight," Joe told her.  
  
Well, Amber didn't know what to think, on one hand she wanted to ignore everything Joe said, but on the other hand, she didn't seem to have too much choice than to believe him. The first thing that went through her head was to tell Richie, but then she thought, Richie had known Duncan for almost 7 years, if he was a vampire, then Richie probably was too......  
  
Well, now Amber was stuck, she figured it was all ridiculous, so she went to bed...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Wake up..."  
  
"What is it?" Amber asked.  
  
"Today's the day, remember?" Louie asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," she replied.  
  
Today, Amber was going to meet Brom Vanrees, a well respected man by all, when she reached his estate, she was surprised to find that there didn't seem to be anyone there, just then, the door swung open, as she walked in, she heard someone off in a distance.  
  
"Welcome! Enter freely and of your own will."  
  
Before Amber could say anything, simutanieously up came who she supposed to be her host, Brom Vanrees.  
  
"I'll take it, you're Mister Vanrees," she said.  
  
"Yes, and you must be Miss Jenzon, I've heard so much about you," he replied.  
  
"Wish I could say the same," Amber muttered.  
  
"Come, you must be exhausted, my servants have retired for the night, so I'll show you to your room myself, follow me."  
  
Brom Vanrees took Amber's bags and led her upstairs to her room, after he left her in private, Amber started to unpack and took out a book she'd been reading the last couple of weeks, the handbook to the Undead.  
  
"Chapter 9, many myths and legends have gone around about the vampires since the beginning of their existence, one of the more famous myths is the inability for a vampire to maintain a reflection. This has been proven false, although one way of finding out about a vampire's existence is their tolerance with fire. A burn by a flame will not effect vampires, although if they were to be set on fire, they would burn. The legend of a cross warding off vampires can be true, but only if the victim has faith in the cross working, and the never failing defeat by sunlight is always proven true. Some identify vampires by their glassy, purplish blue eyes, others by the fangs in their mouth and the unusually long and sharp nails on their hands..."  
  
Amber jumped when she heard a knock at the door, in came a young, blonde man.  
  
"You must be Amber Jenzon, I was told you were coming."  
  
"I thought Mr. Vanrees said all his servants had retired for the evening."  
  
"I'm not a servant, my dear, I'm his friend, Talbot Warner," he said.  
  
"How long have you known Mr. Vanrees?" Amber asked.  
  
"About 2 years," Talbot replied.  
  
"What's he like?"  
  
"Normal, somewhat eccentric," Talbot explained.  
  
"I see......well, I'm an insomniac, I'm going to get some light in this place and stay up for a while," Amber said.  
  
Amber found a candelabra on the wall and lit it, however, the match burnt down too quick and burnt her, she dropped it, and it landed in Talbot's hand. He quickly put the match out, but Amber went cold when she saw there were no marks on his hand. Talbot left for the night, but Amber quickly became aware that she wouldn't be sleeping any time soon, she had to watch her neck.  
  
(To be continued...) 


	3. Count MacLeod Pt III

Count MacLeod Pt III  
  
Amber lay awake in bed, nervously going on in the handbook to the Undead, she decided to gather as much knowledge on the vampires as possible before they got the upperhand and turned her into one, or worse...  
  
"One way to eradicate the vampires is to willingly offer them blood and stay by their side until morning.......hmmmmmmmm, interesting," she read.  
  
However, she decided to find a way to kill the vampires without dying herself.  
  
Amber thought for a while, Brom Vanrees was probably more aware of that way to kill a vampire than anything, so should she get into a scrape with him, she better play her cards well enough to leave alive.  
  
Morning came, and Amber left her room, keeping an eye out for either Talbot or Brom, she slipped down to the kitchen and found a note on the table.  
  
'Miss Jenzon, please excuse my absence, but I have a meeting today and will be gone most of the afternoon, Mister Warner will be absent as well due to a few errands that need be run, signed Brom Vanrees'.  
  
Well, Amber knew she was safe for a while, but come sundown, she knew she had to be as smart as them if she wanted to escape with her neck in tact. She knew she couldn't do it now because the gates to the estate were locked and bolted shut, and the arrowheaded tops of the bars were rusted, so climbing over it wouldn't do. And vampires weren't just spread out in small numbers, there had to be an undead accomplice nearby, which meant if she tried to get away with those two still being alive, then she still probably wouldn't be able to get away.  
  
So she had to think, she had to think of a way to get out alive, without getting half of the cemetery on her back. Amber thought for a while, there had to be a way to get rid of the vampires, but how? She didn't carry a stake with her when she came to Germany, she didn't know where to get any holy water, and she didn't know where the coffins were kept, so she couldn't expose them to sunlight...But then, Amber got an idea, she decided to do a little investigating to find the coffins.  
  
Amber checked the rooms one by one, without even the slightest clue where they could be sleeping, every room looked normal, well, as normal as it could get with Medevil decorating and weapons strung along the walls. Then, it hit Amber, she was probably just getting herself worked up over nothing, people tended to be very eccentric in different countries, and sometimes eccentric was weird. And weird behavior is almost always the first impresion of someone. And last night with Talbot, could've just been another wrong impression. There were some people who didn't burn too easily, and the lighting was bad at the time, so she could've just simply not noticed any marking.  
  
[And to think I stayed up all night, probably over nothing,] she thought.  
  
Just then, she jumped when she heard the kitchen door slam shut, Brom Vanrees stepped out from behind and into the living room.  
  
"Ahhh, Miss Jenzon, have you been up long?" he asked.  
  
"A while...Mister Vanrees, your note said you wouldn't be back until later on this afternoon, why're you back so early?" Amber asked.  
  
She figured if he didn't know, then she was safe, so she better not get smart with him.  
  
"I had a little run-in with some bad atmosphere," he replied.  
  
"Beg pardon?  
  
"It's going to rain, see?"  
  
Brom drew the curtains, revealing the sky had been taken over by black rainclouds, Amber felt her skin go pale as she backed up, and into Talbot.  
  
"I say, do be more careful, my fair lady, that's a good way to lose your head," he told her.  
  
"It's not my head I worry about," Amber said.  
  
[It's my neck at the moment,] she thought.  
  
"Miss Jenzon, have you eaten today?" Mister Vanrees asked.  
  
"No sir, I lost my appetite this morning," she replied.  
  
"Well, I do hope you're not coming down ill, I'll have to run some tests on you while you're here," Brom said.  
  
"Tests? What kind of tests?" Amber asked.  
  
"That's why your employer, Mister Krone sent you here, we believe in tests that will prove who is sane and who is not," Brom explained.  
  
"A mental kick? That's why my boss sent me here? Now see here, Mister Vanrees, I may not be any Florence Nightengale, and my jaw might crack when I chew raw vegetables, and I may have noticable troubles staying serine, but one thing I'm not, is mental!" Amber exploded.  
  
"Calm down, it's only a test to see who wil later on prove to be mental in life," Brom said.  
  
"Oh well that makes sense," Amber calmed down.  
  
"Come on," Talbot said.  
  
Talbot picked Amber up and started for the next room.  
  
"Where we going?" she asked.  
  
"We're going to the den so we can get started on the tests," Brom replied.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Talbot had Amber laid down on the couch and blindfolded, while Brom went over the documents he'd received from Krone about Amber.  
  
"Allright, Miss Jenzon, I want you to go back to your earliest memory, what do you see?" Brom asked.  
  
"I see....I see a man with a loaf of bread in one hand, and a black cat in the other, and he's running from a bobby," Amber said.  
  
"A bobby?" Talbot asked.  
  
"I spent a summer in England, so sue me," Amber replied.  
  
"Allright, let's move ahead a few years, shall we? The year is 1910, where are you?" Brom asked.  
  
"....In Europe, I see an empty street....and I see a man biting a woman on the neck," Amber said.  
  
"What do you find him to be?" Brom asked.  
  
"I find him to be a vampire," Amber responded.  
  
"I see, you may get up now," Brom told her.  
  
Amber sat up and removed the blindfold.  
  
"Miss Jenzon, do you believe vampires exist?" Brom asked.  
  
"Y.....Yes sir," Amber said.  
  
"And why do you believe that to be true?" Brom asked.  
  
"You'd be surprised what I believe in, I'll take into consideration some things nobody else will even give a second thought about," Amber told him.  
  
"Well everyone knows that vampires and all that such, don't exist, right, Mister Warner?" Brom asked.  
  
"Vampires? You got that right," Talbot laughed.  
  
Apparently, Amber was the only one not laughing, because she knew what was going on.  
  
Later, Amber decided she needed to shave, so she put up a piece of glass on the wall, lathered up some soap and started shaving, a few minutes later, she felt a cold draft and became nauseous, she turned around to see Talbot behind her.  
  
"Oh, hello Talbot," she said.  
  
Amber turned around and presumed shaving when it hit her he was right behind her.  
  
"Talbot!"  
  
When Amber turned around, she knocked the glass off the wall, Talbot threw Amber aside and smashed it into a thousand pieces. When Amber stood up, she realized she'd cut the side of her hand with the razor, Talbot's eyes went open wide, he pounced on her at that, Amber took the cross on her necklace out of her shirt and held it in front of him. Talbot backed up, acting as if the cross hurt his eyes.  
  
Amber stood against the wall with her guard up, she knew what was coming.  
  
"I see you've been doing some reading on the weak points of vampires," he said.  
  
The cat was out of the bag, Amber figured there was no use in playing stupid, so...  
  
"Yeah, I figured as long as I was here, I could use some protection, so what're you gonna do?" Amber asked.  
  
Talbot grabbed her and threw her against the wall and was ready to bite her when...  
  
"Talbot!"  
  
Talbot turned to see Brom standing in the doorway, he knew something was up, Talbot put Amber down and went into the hallway to speak with Brom.  
  
"But she knows our secret, Brom, she'll have us killed for sure," Talbot said.  
  
"She's known for some time, so who'd she tell by now? In any case, had you bitten her you would've died anyway. Remember why I told you not to go after her until we were sure about this? If a mortal offers you their blood and you accept, you'll die, she knows what she's doing," Brom warned him.  
  
"So what do you want me to do?" Talbot asked.  
  
Brom grabbed Talbot by his collar and lifted him off the ground.  
  
"I want you to wait, she's not like the others, she knows what she's doing, until we can find out how to get rid of her in the most effective way possible, I don't want you to even remotely try anything, do you understand?" Brom asked, "What have I been teaching you these past few years? To be patient!"  
  
Brom threw Talbot across the hallway and onto the floor.  
  
"If you rush it, no good will come from it, but if you wait, the reward will be far more deserved, understand?" Brom asked.  
  
"Yes," Talbot replied.  
  
Brom walked off, leaving Talbot lying on the floor a bloody mess, at the moment, he had bigger plans. 


	4. Count MacLeod Pt IV

Count MacLeod Pt IV  
  
Brom caught Amber trying to jump out of the window to escape, he grabbed her and tackled her onto the bed, then he chained Amber's feet to the bedpost and gave her a final warning.  
  
"Try that one more time and I'll tie your hands up as well," he said.  
  
With that, he locked her in and left, Amber yanked at the chains but nothing, they were brand new solid steel, unless she could get her hands on a key, she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.  
  
A few hours later, Amber heard the lock on the door, she figured Brom had come back to kill her, instead it was Talbot, with a tray.  
  
"Dinner," he put the tray on the bed.  
  
"I don't want any," Amber replied.  
  
"I know what you're doing," Talbot said.  
  
"What?" Amber asked.  
  
"You're thinking if you make yourself sick, then there'll be nothing left but skin and bones, and thin blood, too thin for Brom's interest," Talbot said.  
  
"How did you guess?" Amber asked.  
  
"I never guess, my foolish friend, I know," Talbot told her.  
  
"Beg pardon?" Amber asked.  
  
"Different vampires have different abilities, I for example, can read minds, I can tell exactly what you're thinking," he explained.  
  
"Wonderful, well, since you know my plan and know it won't work, why don't you just do it now and get it over with?" Amber asked.  
  
"Nothing doing," Talbot replied.  
  
That shocked Amber, a vampire refusing to drink her blood, something was up.  
  
"Why not?" Amber asked, "I'm dead tired, I'm exhausted, I have no energy whatsoever."  
  
"I know, that's why I won't do it, I'm very picky when it comes to victims, I take blood from people with energy, there's.....there's no challenge if they have no energy, I happen to like a little challenge," Talbot snickered.  
  
"And Brom?" Amber asked.  
  
"Brom learned not to be picky or he might not get blood at all, but...he can be a bit stubborn, he prefers active blood himself, he won't take blood from you like this, unless he has to," Talbot said.  
  
"Why are you telling me all this?" Amber asked.  
  
"Call me what you will, but I figure since you won't be going anywhere, and you're not about to become a midnight snack for someone, you have a right to hear, after all, who would you tell?" Talbot asked.  
  
"Who'd I tell isn't as ridiculous as who'd believe me, I have no credability, I could tell the whole bloody town and not a soul would beleive a word of it," Amber replied.  
  
"Exactly," Talbot said.  
  
"So...what's going to happen to me?" Amber asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, it's obvious you can't go anywhere, and you have pretty much compiled your own schedule to make yourself exhausted when we're awake, and stay up all day when we're asleep...I don't know what Brom will have done with you, although I do have an idea," Talbot said.  
  
"Let me guess, a four course meal for him?" Amber asked.  
  
"Yes, which is why....if we play our cards right, we might be able to get you out of here before that happens," Talbot said.  
  
"What? What's the matter with you? If you were Brom, right about now, I'd probably go through the wall, so why aren't you like Brom?" Amber asked.  
  
"That is a long story, you see, I haven't been a vampire as long as Brom, and I must admit, there are times I'm not too comfortable with it myself...He must be at least 400 years old, I on the other hand am only 54," Talbot started.  
  
"And it doesn't show in the least," Amber sarcastically smiled.  
  
"I've known Brom for about 30 years, at first, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but when he assured immortality, I figured it would be best. But when I found out I had been damned by it, I was furious with him," Talbot said.  
  
"So if a vampire gets killed, they go to hell," Amber said.  
  
"Exactly, exactly why you never hear of a vampire dying of old age, providing we stay out of the sun, we are guaranteed to live forever," Talbot said.  
  
"What about stakes? Do they work?" Amber asked.  
  
"Not really, we bleed till the whole floor is a river of blood and we're gone, but only for a short amount of time," Talbot told her.  
  
"I'm not sure I understand," Amber said.  
  
"We can only truly be killed by sunlight as far as I know, crosses, have little effect on us, and they must be within a certain amount of feet of us to work. Holy water, I can't say because neither Brom nor I have ever had to worry about it, stakes, they drain our blood for short amount of time, but we'll come back. We can get burnt alive, drowned, poisoned, we still come back," Talbot said.  
  
"What about blood of the dead?" Amber asked.  
  
"What?" Talbot asked.  
  
"Vampires don't drink from those who are already dead, why?" Amber asked.  
  
"Dead blood to us is pretty much like poisoning to you, not exactly something you want to come in contact with, which is why when we drink, we finish before the heart stops," Talbot told her.  
  
"How do people become vampires?" Amber asked.  
  
"First we bite them, then we have them drink from us, they die a mortal death, and then live forever," Talbot explained.  
  
"I still don't know why you're telling me all this, it's like exchanging secrets with the enemy, isn't it?" Amber asked.  
  
"There are times I regret being what I am, and you...you wouldn't make a good vampire, nor a good meal for one, me, I'd rather stick to rats," Talbot said.  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment," Amber said.  
  
Talbot's head turned around 180 degrees to the door.  
  
"What is it?" she asked.  
  
"Brom's coming, I best leave," Talbot said.  
  
And before Amber knew it, Talbot disappeared, seconds before Brom came in.  
  
"Where's Talbot?" he asked.  
  
"You think I know? He just came in here, put the tray down and left," Amber said, "besides, it's not like I can get up and do anything about him running around."  
  
"And it better keep at that," Brom warned her.  
  
Brom closed the door, and seconds later, Talbot came back in the room.  
  
"I have my reasons for wanting to help you," Talbot said.  
  
"What for?" Amber asked.  
  
"There's no reward to being a vampire, you never get to see the sun rise again, you never reunite with the people you've lost, you never get to see things like a regular person does, you never die, and if you do," Talbot said.  
  
"You go straight to hell," Amber replied.  
  
"Exactly, now do you see why I don't want you to end up like I did?" Talbot asked.  
  
"What's gonna happen?" Amber asked.  
  
"It's too soon to tell, but I'll find out, just wait," Talbot said.  
  
With that, Talbot left the room and locked Amber in.  
  
"Just wait, that's easy for him to say, I've got Dracula on my back and he's got me chained to the bed, well......with Talbot being the brains of this operation, he might need some backup, and I better start thinking, or else it could mean my neck," Amber said.  
  
To be continued... 


	5. Count MacLeod Pt V

Count MacLeod V  
  
Amber woke up and found it hard to move, it took her a while to realize where she was, and that she had been chained to the bed, Talbot came in with a tray of food.  
  
"What happened?" Amber asked.  
  
"I told you this was a terrible idea, and now look at where you are," he said.  
  
"What happened? What's going on?" Amber asked.  
  
"2 weeks without food, what do you expect to happen? Last night, you passed out in the cellar, Brom found out you'd gotten loose and chained your wrists to the bed as well," Talbot said.  
  
"Did I get you in trouble with Brom?" Amber asked.  
  
"A little, the bloody fool took out a pair of surgical scissors and hacked my face up," Talbot explained.  
  
Amber looked at him for a while, looking for strange markings from the scissors.  
  
"I don't see anything," she said.  
  
"Another power of the vampires, for some reason, when he hacked up my face, there was some blood, but then the marks disappeared, instantly," Talbot told her.  
  
"I'm sorry I got you into trouble with Brom, I didn't think I'd drag you into this," Amber said.  
  
"Well...I think we better concentrate more on how we're going to get you out of here," Talbot said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Well, Brom knows quite a number of the ruthless vampires around here, and you better believe me, you don't want to stick around for the party tonight," Talbot said.  
  
"What's going to happen?" Amber asked.  
  
"Well, in every one of Brom's parties, they bring in a mortal, and everyone takes turns drinking blood from them, until the point they're about to die, and then have the mortal drink from one of them...sort of a sacrifice, and you know what that makes you," Talbot said.  
  
"Then what?" Amber asked.  
  
"Then....they grab you, and put you down some grate in the street and by morning, you fry and turn to ashes, it's not good," Talbot said.  
  
"So how are we going to get out of here?" Amber asked.  
  
"TALBOT!"  
  
"Uh-oh."  
  
Brom came in the doorway and unchained Amber.  
  
"Where we going?" Amber asked.  
  
"There's going to be a party tonight, and you're going to be the center of attention," Brom said.  
  
"And I'll bet I know why," Amber mumbled.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Amber looked on in shock, there must've been 40 vampires at the get-together, and she knew they all pretty much came for the same reason.  
  
"All these mosquitos are going to bite into me? You sure there's enough to go around?" Amber asked Talbot.  
  
"Don't worry, you remember what I said about being turned into a vampire for the sacrifice at dawn?" Talbot asked.  
  
"So?" Amber asked.  
  
"There's a way to kill them before dawn," Talbot said.  
  
"How?" Amber asked.  
  
"Follow me."  
  
Talbot led her to a tower not too far from Brom's estate, in the basement of the tower was a long row of coffins.  
  
"They all stay here?" Amber asked.  
  
"Most of them, they're not too up on time as we are, I think we could slip in a warning about something that'll bring the sun up sooner and have them get back into their coffins," Talbot said.  
  
"Then what?" Amber asked.  
  
"On the roof of the tower is about 4 barrels of kerosene, we could pour it all over the coffins and set them on fire, it'll only kill them temporarily, but should be long enough to kill Brom," Talbot said.  
  
"What's Brom got to do with this?" Amber asked.  
  
"He'll be the one to turn you into the vampire, if we can kill him before dawn, it'll remove the curse, and you'll return to normal," Talbot explained.  
  
"Let's go," Amber said.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
Talbot and Amber broke into the main room screaming for the vampires to get back in their coffins.  
  
A female vampire saw Amber and grabbed her by the neck.  
  
"What's the matter with you, little one?"   
  
"The sun is coming up, we must return to our coffins before it's too late!" Talbot exclaimed.  
  
"What do you mean? It's only 5:30, the sun doesn't come up for quite a while," another vampire said.  
  
"Day is coming sooner now, the sun will be up within a matter of minutes, if we don't get back into our coffins, we are all doomed!" Amber said.  
  
"Are you pulling our legs?" another vampire asked.  
  
"Do you want to stick around and find out? Move!" Talbot exclaimed.  
  
All the vampires hurried back over to the tower and shut up in their coffins, Talbot and Amber poured the kerosene all over and brought down a lantern, the building went up in flames in a mere matter of minutes. Just as they thought they had gotten away with it, Brom grabbed Talbot, snapped his neck, and threw him across the yard, then he grabbed Amber and shook her violently.  
  
"You thought you could get away with this, did you? Now you pay!" he screamed.  
  
*******************************************************************************  
  
Off in a distance, Amber heard someone calling her name, she opened her eyes to see Duncan shaking her to wake her up. At first she calmed down, but when she remembered where she was, she kicked him in the eye and jumped off the bed.  
  
"Amber, what in the devil's gotten into you?" Duncan asked.  
  
Amber didn't answer, and attempted getting out of the room, but Duncan grabbed her and threw her back, Amber ran around the room with him following, until they both fell when the dresser dropped on them.  
  
"Amber, have you gone insane? What's going on?" Duncan asked.  
  
Amber popped up under a pile of books with a cross in her hand.  
  
"Amber..."  
  
"Don't come near me!" she screamed.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"You heard me! Don't come near me!"   
  
"Amber, what the devil's wrong with you?" Duncan asked.  
  
However, it didn't take him long to realize she was on the verge of hysteria.  
  
"Amber, tell me what's going on around here...I come in here because you're screaming like the living dead," Duncan said.  
  
"Tell me something......what are you?" Amber asked.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Your family history has a record of the Undead in it, are you one of them?" Amber asked.  
  
"Amber, where did you get this bloody idea from?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Joe told me how several of your ancestors haven't died because they're already dead, but they still walk the Earth, are you one of them?" Amber asked.  
  
"Amber, I don't.......wait a minute, wait a minute, you stay here and don't do anything drastic, I'll be back," Duncan said.  
  
As Duncan headed out of the room, in came Richie.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked.  
  
"I have no idea, but I think I'm about to find out, you stay here with her and make sure she doesn't do anything any of us will regret, I'll be back in a minute," Duncan said.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Duncan kicked in Joe's door and hopped on the bed and grabbed him by his collar to get his attention.  
  
"What's going on?" Joe asked.  
  
"What have you been telling Amber?" Duncan asked.  
  
"About what?" Joe asked.  
  
"You know about what, what did you tell her about my family?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Oh that...nothing, I was just messing with her mind," Joe said.  
  
"Yeah and it worked too, she thinks I'm a vampire, now what the hell did you tell her?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Nothing, that brat just came across your family tree records, and as it turns out, there are several people in there who don't have death dates who lived a loooooooooooooong time ago, so I just told her the only thing that would make sense, now can I go back to sleep?" Joe asked.  
  
"Fine, I'll have to settle this one myself it looks like," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan headed back into Amber's room to find Richie with her in his arms, trying to console her.  
  
"Richie, if you don't mind, I have to speak with Amber alone," Duncan said.  
  
Richie got up and stepped in the hall without saying a word, Duncan closed the door and turned to Amber, her face was bright red with tears rolling down her face.  
  
"Hey now, none of that, now Amber, tell me what's going on here," Duncan said.  
  
"Yesterday, I came across the records to your family tree, and every 7th relative has no death date meaning they didn't die, and you're the 7th relative in this generation," Amber explained.  
  
"And you figured I was the same as all my other relatives.....look Amber, yes some of my relatives have proven to be vampires, but I'm not one of them...I thought I proved that when I go out in the sunlight," Duncan said.  
  
"But Joe said that by mixing and Immortal like you and an Immortal like the vampires, it's impossible to tell what will come out of it," Amber replied.  
  
"Amber, there are a few things you need to know about Joe, one thing is when he finds someone he's not too fond of, he loves to pick at their brains, and you apparently are no acception. Now apparently I've only heard half of this whole shenanagin, what Joe told you, why don't you try telling me what you figured afterwards?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well......At first, I didn't want to believe him, so far just about everything he's told me's been a croc, but then I started thinking, so many myths of how to kill vampires have been false, maybe the one about being exposed to sunlight is too. And then I thought, you've known Richie for so long, if you were a vampire, he probably was one by now as well," Amber said.  
  
"Listen Amber, my family tree is ancient, the last record was done 120 years ago, you can't go by it....and despite a bunch of myths on how to kill a vampire, the one about sunlight isn't false. And you've seen me enough times in daylight to know that if I was one, I would be dead by now...and as you can see, I'm not."  
  
Amber didn't reply, she just rolled back her eyes and fell on the bed.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
By 6:00 the next morning, the sun was already on its way up, the skies were light purple, which shone in through the windows. Amber woke up to see Richie standing next to the window.  
  
"You came back."  
  
"I never left, Mac told me what happened last night, after you passed out, I came in to see what the whole ruckus was about, after that I just stayed here all night waiting for you to wake up...there's just one thing I don't get," Richie said.  
  
"What?" Amber asked.  
  
"What was it that got you into that crazy frenzy last night?" Richie asked.  
  
"A nightmare like you wouldn't believe, I dreamt that we were all stuck in a mixture of Dracula and Interview with a Vampire, only it was like I was Claudia, you were Louie, Duncan was Lestat, and we were trying to get away from him and the gang of the undead before sunrise," Amber said.  
  
"No kidding, that's what you get for listening to Joe, I learned to stop listening to him a looooong time ago," Richie said.  
  
"No kidding, I'm surprised Duncan listens to him half the time," Amber replied.  
  
"There's only one more thing I want to know," Richie said.  
  
"What's that?" Amber asked.  
  
"How fruity did I look with fangs and a bad manicure?" Richie asked.  
  
"Worse than you could imagine, and Duncan, he......he looked like his relative on the living room wall, only with a much better shave," Amber replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Everyone get down here!" Duncan called.  
  
"What's going on now?" Joe asked.  
  
"I just got a call from Amanda, she's at the airport and she wants us to get there immediately, move!" Duncan said.  
  
"Wonderful, I wonder what she'll say about this place when she sees it," Amber said.  
  
"Anything but it's nice," Richie replied, jumping onto the banister.  
  
Richie slid down the banister and was halfway out the door when Duncan grabbed him by the back of his jacket.  
  
"Not so fast, Rich, I'm driving," Duncan said.  
  
"Be my guest," Richie replied.  
  
"We can get back to this later, let's go get Amanda!" Amber said.  
  
"Boy, she sounds more excited to see her than I do," Duncan laughed.  
  
"I wonder why," Richie rolled his eyes.  
  
Within a few minutes, they were off to the airport, finally they were going to find out why Amanda had them meet her in Germany. 


End file.
